Sample Annotated Bibliography Essay Example for Free

Sample Annotated Bibliography Essay1. Trossman, Susan RN (2006). Rx for Medical marihuana? Promoting research on and acceptance of this treatment option for patient. Miscellaneous Article Vol. 106 Issue 4 Page 77. AJN American Journal of Nursing. Susan promotes and publicize advances in clinical research. Her opinion and thoughts does not shortflict health check science not to put her practice away but to be the face of the campaign in process improvement for legalizing marijuana use.2. Twombly, Renee (2006). Despite Research, FDA says Marijuana has no benefit. Article Vol 98 Issue 13 Page. 888 JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute Twombly compilation of article basically explaining that certain medical semipolitical science such FDA (Food and Drug Administrations) has not made justification that medical marijuana can fully benefited anyone that will utilize this drugs for treatment. 3. Nadelmann, Ethan (1989). Drug Prohibition in the joined States Cost, Consequences, and Alternatives. New Series, Vol. 245 No.4921 Page 939-947. Nadelmann cited serious consideration as both analytical model and a policy option for addressing the drug problem. Drug legalisation protocol that are extremely applied can lessen the risks of legalization, drastically decrease the costs of current policies, and directly address the issues of substance abuse.4. Herried, C., DeRei, K. (2007) intimate line Technique Medicinal Use of Marijuana. Journal of College Science Teaching, 36. (4), 10-13. The authors of this paper present an outline of the debate process and how students can effectively present their sides of a moot subject. Personal accounts in favor of legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes are given, as well as data as to why it should not be legalized. This fiber will benefit the paper because it provides real accounts from people and not just statistics.5. Marwick, C. (1994) Change of Heart Prehaps, but Not of Legislation. The Journal of the American Me dical Association, 27. (21), p 1635.The author of this article details an account made in 1993 at The National Press Club by The Surgeon General of the United States Joycelyn Elders, MD, close how legalization of illicit drugs could lead to a significant decrease of crime. This comment caused a stir in the political world, mainly on the con side, and shows that that this issue is not new and the government remains staunchly against fully legalizing any drug, including marijuana. This article will benefit the paper in that it provides a political account from the Surgeon General who is looked upon as someone that by all accounts should be against the legalizing of illicit drugs.

Ethics in Professionals Essay Example for Free

Ethics in Professionals Essay. Salgo v Leland Sanford University Board of Trustees notes that if the health victor do not present all the necessary facts that will form the basis for the decision of the enduring, the professional has committed a violation. The patient has to nethergo an action in the heart, in his aorta. Before the operation, he is well. After the operation, the patient experienced paralysis in his lower extremities and that the condition is permanent.There has been negligence in the partitioning of the doctors and they fail to explain to the patient all the details of the procedure (Standford 1957). 2. Arato v. Avedon states that the physicians must present the accurate statistics regarding the life expectancy of patients regarding their case so they could plan for their death. Arato was deplorable from an illness in his pancreas. He was told by the doctors to undergo F. A. M. chemotherapy. The doctors have failed to give the patient the chances of recover ing after the chemotheraphy (LSU Law Center 1993).3. The Schloendorff case has been part of the record of informed consent when the concept was made upon the decision of the judge that adults and those who are capable of thinking well can determine what can be through to his body and that every professionals who work on a patients body without the latters consent is guilty of assault and is liable of any charges. It says that as long as the patient is capable of right thinking, he can give his consent regarding the operation to his body. The victim has some problems in her stomach.When she was under anesthesia, the doctor performed removal of fibroid tumor. The patient only gave her consent to have ether examination. After the operation, the patient has to be amputated because of infection and gangrene (Szczygiel). 4. Canterbury v. Spence also states that all development regarding the result, the risks, benefits of the operation must be revealed to the patient. The patient was suf fering from back pains. The doctors performed an operation which resulted in paralysis. The doctors failed to disclose the risks of the operation (Stanford, 1972). 5.The Patient Self-Determination comprise provides a put down of the rights of the patients to participate in making decisions for their own safety and make directives. It also says that violation of it makes the health professionals ethically liable. B. Timeline Schloendorff case (1914) ? Salgo v. Leland Sanford University Board of Trustees (1957) ? Canterbury v. Spemce (1972) ? Arato v. Avedon ? Patient Self-Determination Act (PSDA) (1991) C. Informed Consent Informed Consent involves the participation of the patient regarding the decision to whether a procedure will be done to the patient or not. The patient has the right to give consent.Informed consent means that the patient is informed regarding all the information that is necessary for the patient to have a basis in making his decision. Information includes the s tatus of his illness, the life expectancy, the treatment that could be done and its risks and benefits, and all other practicable treatments. The patients must also be informed to the possible consequences of not performing the treatment or even the consequences if the treatment is performedWorks CitedLSU Law Center. 1993. No duty to inform patient of non-medical information ARATO v. AVEDON 858 P. 2d 598 (Cal 1993) forthcoming from http//biotech.law. lsu. edu/cases/ consent/ARATO_v_AVEDON. htm 15 February 2009 Stanford University. 1957. Salgo v. Leland Stanford etc. Bd. Trustees, 154 Cal. App. 2d 560 available from http//www. stanford. edu/group/psylawseminar/Salgo. htm 15 February 2009 . 1972. Canterbury v. Spence. , 464 F. 2d 772 (D. C. Cir. 1972) available from http//www. stanford. edu/group/psylawseminar/Canterbury. htm 15 February 2009 Szczygiel, Tony. 1914. Mary E. Schloendorff, Appellant, v. The Society of the New York Hospital, Respondent available from http//wings . buffalo. edu/faculty/ look/ bioethics/schloen0. html 15 February 2009

Five Driving Forces of CSR

Five Driving Forces of CSRCSR is the positive steps an ecesis takes in the way it functions, to give benefits to the community, and ship aro spendal in which it can return to the community from which it has taken so much to get itself established. CSR is now internationally mappingd tool to measure and comp ar the firms performances economically, soci fittedly and environmentally. The idea is to advance a sustainable business that benefits the market and communities. It does this by maximising the benefits given to the topical anesthetic people want endowment them work or employment and caring for their health etc e supernumeraryly for those who live near the computeies. It c ars for the community and the people. CSR does development work like building the infrastructure like the roads so that the people likewise benefit on daily basis.The important drivers include-Enthusiastic self interestInvestment in the societyHonesty with humans change magnitude mankind expectation s of business by contributing to the economyThrough these drivers a close loop between society is achieved and there is a give out reason between the market and labor. By CSR orginizations contribute to the physical infrastructure and accessible capital is seen as the primary interest. Companies keep themselves open to public accountability to the public is reported, organizations regularly pay taxes to stabilize the society. Iot takes most burden away from the government by helping build the ground. It serves the nation by developing its economy and infrastructure.These drivers use st get to judgmentgy to give better services. They define the inventories/ business case by analyzing the programs they approve and thus charter approval is base on the service portfolio and authorization. Chartering includes the communicating and the resource allocation. CSR is an important activity internationally because of the internationalization. Organizations who serve globally benefits f rom CSR.The key driver is friendly investment, by engaging in public policy CSR drivers fall the companies to unsloped leadership and ultimate good business. Through these programs there is better and closer relationship with the investors and the stakeholders.The customers, benefits a lot and the communities grow by better and emergence economy.(Source http//positive outcomes.com.au)CSR gives real business strategy. The survey made in 2002 by Ernst and Young show that about 94% of companies believe in CSR. It influences about 70% of all consumers and their purchasing decisions. Ernst and Young (environmental and sustainable services principle state) Corporate Social Responsibilty is now the basic factors that decide the consumership and their choice with the companies.The core drivers of CSR are addition in stakeholder exceptions.The obligation for the supply chains.The decreasing role of the government.The pressure from the share holders.Mr. Doug Miller 1999 conducted an expe rimental survey on CSR. Results indicated that consumers wanted higher accessible and environmental goal.The dying role of the state is an an early(a)(a)wise driver or CSR because of the diminishing partnership of the state, the stakeholders are benefiting and their exceptions are rising. more or less basic drivers of CSR includeThe standard employees companies moldiness keep standard employee and employ them on the basic of the prime(a) of their work. With the competition in the market it is difficult for companies because employees opt for companies that here better visibility and are working for the sustaining communities. The IBR report (International Business Report in 2008 state that they were facing employee retention and this became the main driver for CSR.According the Moller, Jam Heltand from Great Thornton, Denmark business morals is the key factor for recruitment and retention in Denmark is tight excavate market, privately held business ignoring CSR issues are f acing future skills shortages that testamenting threaten their global competiveness.Managing Cost To be sustainable it is recommended that e actually company should ensure that they keep their expenses as low as possible. By good operating procedures and keeping a check on the quality the costs of the companies is examined. E.g to manage the level of the toxic gases and the greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide is a challenge. It accounts to a large cost of the country. The countries responded very positively o this driver and engaged in CSR activities. Many countries like brazil rate this drvier one of the almost effective means to check the companys performance. imperfection building Companies believe that if they involve themselves in CSR it will bring fame to their companies. They will get famous and will get promoting. By involving themselves in corporate social responsibilities companies get the positive wind from the consumers. This drives the companies to work for the welf are of the people. Engaging in social work rather than a public image becomes important as the company progress and moves towards the global market.Benefits by pay the tax, the company must pay the taxes and keep its system transparent so that is comes into the public listing most companies desire to listed.Case Studies Different companies grant different activities to keep their brand names up.SAP For public interest SAP focus on tuition and to keep the community involved they educate people to spread awareness and keep the children away from youth suicide. The organization facilities the communities by providing them with resources like school based life skills to stop the people from committing suicide. To support these programs Australia supports these agiences by providing staff and volunteers. sun Microsystems A leading sponser of musica vivas first and only prime sponser. Through making links with an IT industry it benefits musica viva by benefiting it through giving it t he opportunity of ne 2rking within the corporate sector resulting in opening it to the sponsers. Musica viva get invoked as customers encourage increasing awareness of its activities and performances. Musica viva achievers its objectives of taking beauty and music into the lives of ordinary Australians and bringing arts and the corporate foundation together. It is like a mutual benefiter. Sun gives technical knowledge and help the market to reach the musica viva and music viva provides it the chance to give the community their culture back through giving them music.IBM To promote web based society, IBM makes and provides the training material for education of web to the senior citizens. Other citizens that begin knowledge of web pass with computer knowledge.HP HP received a gold award from community chest of Singapore for raising millions of dollars for charity in 2003. This fund raising increased the employee participation to 50%. They met their challenge by wearing gladiator c ostumes they set their goal of competing with other IT industry leaders to raise charity. HP won it.Microsoft Working with the world food programs, save the children and mercy corps it provides technical development assistance through the humanitarian empowerment and response through technology. Throughout the world the organization are using technology to spread humanitarian efforts.Investor Relations For ethical practice in CSR business the organizations good investor relations and consider it an important factor of. Among other countries Vietnam is the leading country keep that maintains good relations with its investors. It gives a lot of grandeur to its investors.countirs like india ,turkey etc are emerging and consider it a unprompted factor of success.they believe that the investors make it possible for the company to meet the varying need of the customers.some countries donot think that good investment is a main driver because some established companies can finance their o wn efforts.such countries include developed contries like the Usa, Singapore japan and the europeon countries.the countries donot unfeignedly agree investor relation to be the major drivor of CSR.The play used by the leading companies to engage the public is that they do welfare programs. The use low cost programs o deliver the public goods and accumulating the needs of the public and then meeting them in the market demand. They work by reducing the cost as compared to the other companies and meeting the quality due to the competition with other companies.Economies of scopeMostly the corporate companies try to give better products to the producer.mainly these corporate firms fill an established setup of the manufacturing industry.they can supply the latest technology.this really assists them to have the ecomomies of sale and makes their chance better of saling their product at a competitive price. Due to industry and experience they have edge over other companies.this also benefi ts the consumers because they dont have to try another product and risk with it.External pressure from the investors and the consumers Companies offer portfolios that shelter the social considerations. They use social and environmental policies and use it as a marketing tool. The companies study and take benefit from the market survey. Benefits come to the investors when its capital increases and they are attracting more stakeholders and not taking anything from the government by releasing its burden by contributing positively to the country and making its economy healthier. The investors donot pressurise the companies to practise CSR. They have to be convinces that CSR is a powerful tool to build a healthy economy for a country and make it rich. Social funds are minute and have to had much impact on the corporations. They can not exert pressure on the share prices and influence the organizations attitude. Social funds can then also claim that the investors have not really given th em the considerations. There are no clear evidences that can claim that there are differences between the two. It is a question whether or not social funds can produce CSR outcomes. Social fund managers compete with each other to find the investors and compete to keep investment criteria thus acting like fund managers. Due to social pressure investment firms then comes with the outcomes in the industrial sector. The social fund managers also focus on demands like the ones that require sustainability and recycling. This is termed as eco consumerism. This helps them to capture the investors. This puts the pressure on the investors and they have to act ethical and respond to the ecological demands and act as socially responsible. Consumers also help promote CSR by making the appropriate decisions by buying the product produced by the company that used the CSR practice. If the consumers pay some insurance money regularly to the CSR brands the organizations will get an incentive to work for the environment. The benefit the companies gain by CSR compels the non users to also indulge in CSR practice.Government pressure With increasing awareness about industrial carbon footprint, all corporations and entrepreneurs of all scale are trying to configure a newer, more eco-friendly and more socially responsible setup for the overall workflow. Some corporations tend to donate to environmental and social causes hence improving their business reputation others develop a team based on a renewal of races and other social diversities hence sending a message to the consumer eventually. This entire paradigm also tends to secure a certain underwriting from related government bodies. espousal of government to these responsibilities not only ensures a health corporate growth but also help the government to breach into the areas where its resources fall short. With a given form of a government support, corporations offer a flexible working plan to its employs and also tend to inves t the available potential into areas like neutralize management and energy efficiency, which finally benefit the government itself. So it becomes a complex loop of collaboration and shared benefit. Phenomenon of global warming has also been taken seriously by innumerable corporations, especially the ones with higher carbon footprints. Their major production decisions take into account these climatic changes and their policies are constructed around a socially and environmentally sounder vision of society. Similarly, governments (especially agrarian based societies) also endorse animal adoption- related corporate policies. Similarly bigger (first world corporations) favor discordant support programs for children (especially living in the third world) and there are health-related support groups as well. Apple for instance launched a complete campaign of its products dubbed Product redness to endorse African Aids victims. The corporate get the advantages from the CSR. They work to k eep the society flourishing and some work to keep their names high. There are many who get benefit from the CSR the company,the consumer, the stakeholders etc.Tax advantage The greatest incentive for the companies working and practicing CSR is that they get exempted from the payment of tax to the government because they are already doing a lot of good social work and keeping the environment sustainable. The developing countries like India benefit a lot from it. Brazil is another country taking most from this advantage. But this also implies that the organizations company should keep transparency in their taxation and must also have standard employees. This then allows them to be public ally listed.Measuring corporate Social responsibility It is very important to know the basics of what you are going to do. And that is how you can achieve the task. social function is how you will know that how you have to do that. No one tells the rules and the techniques of their way of work that makes their style copied by someone which degrade them. For example if u have to prefer in two different types of working then what will you decide in the two?The company which treats with their employs harshly and give you a good product orThe company which treats with their employs softly and gives you a bad product.Corporate Social Responsibility measures to apply international national regional industry local and organizational aspects. And the characteristics are no unified terminology no unified definition no defined content no overall standards.On the other hand finance is also a major problem in controlling and measuring corporate social responsibility. In different companies the financial rate is different and the techniques to control the financial issues are different so the responsibility of measuring varies on finance of the company if the finance is controlled and used accurately will do better job then the company with the bad or uncontrolled finances. To control the finances of the company one should see the expenses of the company and use the expenses in a rite way at rite time. The way one could manage the finance of a company is my announcing the social corporate responsibility investments. It also got some problems in it different companies have different criteria of their own so every company use their own aspects in making of social corporate responsibility investments. To balance and control the financial reports audit is used to manage the accounts of the company and to check the finances of the company. And to make the balance between two companies one should give some rules on which the company should have to give the answers about certain questions which can balance the two companies n make then work in the same criteria. And also understand the way of increasing their work objective to get the firm run in a better way. That is how a company or a firm or industry can understand that what is the need of the people and what are the req uirements of the people and what they have to do or work on to get the required results. Every company will have to see whether they are performing well in their sector or not whether they are giving the fine results to the people or not or whether these companies are satisfying everyone including themselves. Big firms and industries have to see that they must not be polluting the environment which is the biggest problem in industrial zone now a day.To manage all the things accurately the measuring corporate social responsibilities have to work in on it hard. To balance the way of working and the importance of work variably that what type of work needs more importance n what need lesser so that the result would be overall balanced and relatively equal to all others. Check on the managing the things done by the other companies that what are they doing and how are they doing the aspect of their work as relevant to the other companies. To see the equilateral input and output of the co mpany as compared to the other company.The advantages of indulging in CSREconomies of scope It means that overall the production price for the company can decrease if they increase the number of products produces that have similar stark naked(a) material. Using the some company name they can come up with various goods and services. They can also work in collaborations with other firms that produce similar products, and site near the source which manufactures the product. This is achieving the economies of scope. Economies of scope are cost advantage because instead of providing a single product and polishing it and making it better and special they can increase their output. Economy of scope can also exist if the one company makes various products under the same name with good quality and lower price than a group of separate firms each producing a single product. Economies of scope can be achieved when one input can be used to generate more variety outputs. This reduces the overa ll cast. They exist in home healthcare, telecommunication etc. e.g the research team of one company is fitted of researching on a number of products ,their team work can cut down the cost by producing a number of products. Most of the corporate companies that have established their companies can offer better sale and advantage to the producers because they have an established setup (factories, technology, communication, transportation etc.). to help produce various products. They are able to give the products cheaper than the others with a good quality as compared to the ones who have stared their business and lack the experience. The companies with experience as able to make best use of the raw material at less price and during the production phase they waste little energy. They will have better graphics due to the skilled labour and consumer study and better technology for the packaging as well. They save a lot of money at the production stage and then they can pass some benefit to the users and buyers.

Strategic Change Approaches To Change Management Commerce Essay

Strategic Change Approaches To Change Management Commerce EssayIt is imperative that organisations maintain a greater reach, ar present in various different places and constantly abreast of regional and cultural differences and ensure to integrate these into their strategies for the different market and communities they occupy. Due to the ever exploitation importance of tilt within organisations, it has become imperative that managerial staff posses the skill to masteryfully manage these convinces when they occur (Senior, 2002 By, 2005).Merrel (2012) described inter metamorphose as a continuous reality for organisations that intend to survive and prosper in these volatile and unpredictable times. He went get along to define channelize as simply doing things in a way different from what you are used to or doing completely different things. It is in the better(p) interest that all in all stakeholders within an organisation tend together to ensure that changes are managed in effect. Effective change perplexity is generally described as execution of change programmes or initiatives that procure the goals for which they were intended on time and within budget and besides succeed in delivering sustainable benefits to the organisation (ibid).However, major changes within organisations require ample inputs in terms of time, zipper and resources. Over time it has been found that majority of change programmes cast failed to meet the desired goals of the organisation. Published sources estimate that the success levels of change in organisations may celestial latitude as low as 10% (Oakland and Tanner, 2007).Most changes that occur within organisations tend to be intermittent in nature. They usually start off at a particular point and are then followed by a number of locomote that result in a final outcome. Every suppuration organisation experiences a continuous mold of evolution. At certain intervals of this growth cycle, organisations generate to eva luate, determine or rein terra firma their standards and processes. This evolution could at sometimes be a slight change or at other times a major overhaul. Where at that place is a change made in mavin aspect of the organisation, this usually triggers a chain of events that requires further changes t o be made to other areas within the organisation in order to achieve a new balance (Pandey, 2012).Following the constant evolution and the consequent changes that occur within organisations, effort has to be put in to rein conjure up and construct a new balance to continue working towards the goals and objectives of the seam. This new balance is created primarily by the workforce and is not an easy feat. Therefore, it is essential that an effective and trusty change management strategy is employed (Gans, 2011).As defined by Gans (2011) Change Management is a process whereby organisations support fragments of their workforce that have been alter by hotshot way or another as a re sult of an organizational change. She went further to stress the importance of accounting for any member of staff affected by the change in the development of a change management strategy.Despite the importance of change management in the business world today and as naughtylighted previously, Balogun and Hope Hailey (2004) have reported that of all change programmes that have been initiated, there has been a 70% rate of failure. Burnes (2004) suggested that this poor success rate of change management programmes shows a basic absence of an adequate framework of how to carry out and manage changes in organisations. He went further to state that what is before long on hand(predicate) to academics and practitioners is a wide range of contradictory and confusing theories and bettermentes.2.0 EXISTING APPROACHES TO CHANGE MANAGEMENTThere are a number of alive accesses to organizational change and there is continued debate as to which qualifies as the best. This difference in opinion amongst academics and practitioners is the reason that many managers within organisations may have reservations on the importance and validity of be literature on change management. It is also a reason for confusion as to which approach to employ when considering change (Bamford and Forrester, 2003).These reservations are further fuelled by the existing fine management literature that highlights numerous incidents of change programmes that have gone wrong. Based on the literature, amongst a some others, there are two main approaches to change emergent and planned (ibid).In this article, we would be looking into the two main approaches to change, highlighting their weakness and strengths, by critically analysing the already existing literature on the topic.2.1 PLANNED CHANGEThis approach to organisational change is described as a process that moves from one compulsive state to another through a succession of pre arranged steps. This approach to change sack up be analysed using various frameworks, such as the Lewins (1951) follow through research model and Lewins (1958) three step model which describes the three stages of change as freezing- holding on to the familiar, unfreezing brainstorming, addressing issues and exploring other approaches and refreezing identifying, applying and consolidating values, culture and newly acquired skills to those pre existing and currently desired. This approach to change acknowledges that prior to new characteristics successfully adopted the previous circle need to be eliminated, only then wad the new set be fully established (Bamford and Forrester, 2003).2.1a STRENGTHS OF PLANNED CHANGEBurnes (1996 as cited in Eldrod II and Tippet, 2002) identifies planned approach to organisational change as an attempt in explaining the process that initiates change. The planned approach is also thought to highlight the importance to organisations of fully comprehending the different stages that are involved in the process of go ing from and unsatisfactory state to an unknown desired new state (Eldrod II and Tippett, 2002).Planned change is also credited for considering changes that may not be in direct identify with the organisations general transformational vision but are seen to be worth making. It is in tune with the organisational breakdown structure and by virtue of its nature being sensed to be a logical program by stakeholders, providing organisations with a variety of choices of initiatives. Because it is made up of a clear and solid directive, it tends to be easier to circulate to all areas of the organisation. Although this solid directive may in some cases work as a disadvantage as it may make it easier to attack and/or void (Weick, 2000 Beer and Nohria, 2000).2.1b WEAKNESSES OF PLANNED CHANGEPlanned change has received a lot of criticism from as early on as the 1980s despite its popularity, (Kanter et al., 1992 Burnes, 1996 By, 2005). It has been faulted for focal point on only small scale incremental change and ignores cases where there may be a need for quick and transformational changes (Burnes, 1996, 2004).Another shortcoming of this approach is the fact that it bases its design on the assumption that organisations operate under conditions that are static and they digest move in a pre planned pattern from one stable state to another (Bamford and Forrester, 2003). This approach is also known to ignore maculations where a more dictated approach is needed e.g. in a situation where there is a need for rapid change and no room for widespread consultation or involvement (Burnes, 1996, 2004 Kanter et al., 1992 By, 2005). Critics have also argued that this approach is establish on the assumption that all the stakeholders involved in the change have a combined interest in carrying it out and that a uniform consensus can be reached with ease (Bamford and Forrester, 2003). This presumption does not take into consideration issues of politics and conflicts that are common place within organisations, but goes further to assume that these can be identified with ease (Burnes, 1996, 2004).Weick (2000 Beer and Nohria, 2000), also highlighted a number of disadvantages of applying the planned change approach. He states that with murder of the planned change approach, there is a high chance of reversal of the effected change, following the changes integration of the various parts of the organisation may not take place in a uniform manner, unpredictable results ascribable to limited foresight, a high chance of individuals failing to act out their parts in the change process despite verbally agreeing to do so, adoption of practices that may have been suited elsewhere but may not necessarily yield positive results within the organisation due to a difference in context, failure of top management to have a full understanding of capabilities at the front line and contingencies and finally a delay in execution which would result in the change initiatives being o bsolete even before they are implemented.2.2 EMERGENT CHANGEThis approach to change is relatively new and does not have the formal history of planned change. It is believed that this approach covers a wider area of understanding of the issues faced by organisations related to managing change within intricate environments. In this approach, change is perceived to be less reliant on detailed forecasts and plans and is more focused on arriving at an veritable understanding of the intricacies of the underlying problems and deriving possible solutions (Bamford and Forrester, 2003). There is also the suggestion that the occurrence of change here is unpredictable that senior managers are unable to effectively select, propose and carry out suitable actions in response (Kanter et al., 1992).The emergent approach to organizational change adopts a bottom up process of initiating and implementation as opposed to a top down. Considering the complex and rapid nature of change, it is deemed imp ossible for senior management to identify and implement every action requirement to successfully carry out changes. This implies that the role played by senior management must undergo some changes in itself from controller to more of a facilitator of change, as the responsibility for change is seen to be more devolved (Bamford and Forrester, 2003).2.2a STRENGTHS OF EMERGENT CHANGEIt has been established that the business environment is one of uncertainty and the proponents of emergent change have argued that this uncertainty of both the internal and external environments makes the planned approach to change less appropriate. Assuming that organizations operated is an environment that is stable and predictable there would be lower-ranking or no need for change. This makes the emergent approach to change much more pertinent than the planned approach (Bamford and Forrester, 2003).Burnes (1996) is of the opinion that emergent change encourages management to pay close attention and gai n understanding of strategy, culture, systems, structure and style, looking into how they can work as blockages or facilitators of an effective change process. He goes further to argue that a successful change process is more concerned with gaining an understanding of the complex issues within the organisation and developing a range of options for tackling these issues. It can then be deduced that the emergent change is focused more on the preparation for change and actual implementation as opposed to providing planned steps and objectives for each change programme or initiative (By, 2005).Weick (2000 Beer and Nohria, 2000), insists that change must be more emergent than planned. He is of the opinion that organisations are in a constant state of evolution and there are always change initiatives ongoing on various levels within the organisation. Main stakeholders are always in search of ideas to increase the performance of the organisation and this means that there is a constant flux . It is important that this flux is identified and maximised. Efforts should be made in identifying these lesser changes occurring in different areas of the organization and they should then be spread to other areas of the organisation. There are no rules that govern the way change is initiated it simply involves creating a connection between the actions carried out by the individual areas within the business to create a working synergy (Pettigrew and Whipp, 1993).2.2b WEAKNESSES OF EMERGENT CHANGEWeick (2000 Beer and Nohria, 2000), in his critical analysis also highlighted a number of weaknesses of the emergent approach to change. He noted that emergent changes are too slow to come together, tend to be too negligible to have a noticeable effect on results, are more suited for taking advantages of opportunities than responding to threats, crippled by already existing culture and technology, deficient when competitors are focused on transformation more generic rather than focused la ck foresight operates on the assumption that change is driven by intent, which in reality is not always that case and this implies that situations where change is evolutionary or is driven by life cycle would be over looked (Van de Ven and Pool 1995 Weick, 2000 Beer and Nohria, 2000) .One of the main challenges of the emergent change is the fact that is quite new compared to the planned approach and this has led to reservations concerning its consistency and the variety of techniques available (Bamford and Forrester, 2003 Wilson, 1992). Another criticism of the emergent approach is that it is generally made up of models and approaches that lack correlation and only tend to do so in their integrate lack of faith for the planned approach to change than to and agreed alternative (Bamford and Forrester, 2003 Dawson, 1994).According to Burnes (1996), to validate the general theory and implementation of the emergent approach to change implies that one has to be of the opinion that all o rganisation function within a volatile and unpredictable environment to which they constantly have to adapt. This would then kick in rise to the assumption that the emergent model is suitable for all organizations, all situations and at all times (ibid). In reality this is clearly not the case.Dunphy and Stace (1993) disagreed on that view arguing that agents of change require a model that is adaptable to different situations and clearly shows how one can adjust their change strategies to achieve the best fit for a particular situation taking into consideration the changing environment (Dunphy and Stace, 1993).3.0 CONCLUSIONFollowing a review of the existing literature on planned and emeregent approaches to change, it can be concluded that both approaches have fair shares of limitations and advantage. Generally, there seems to be more of a preference for the emergent change approach and this could be because this approach was more recently introduced in comparison to the planned ap proach and it its design, consideration was taken to address some of the shortcomings that were experience with the planned approach.However, in order to achieve a successful organisational change, it is important that an approach be developed that not only takes into consideration the constantly evolving environment, but also identifies that there are a number of approaches to change. This approach should be flexible to suit the different needs of various organisations as opposed to one that is tailored to be applicable to all organisations. Dunphy and Stace, (1993) clearly state that no two organisations are identical and most probably have varying situations and this would mean that their structure and strategies would also be different and this emphasis the need for a flexible approach to change.

Oral Reading And Reading Comprehension Performance English Language Essay

Oral variant And Reading science Performance side of meat Language EssayReading index has always been considered as a critical measurement in lecture education. It involves both(prenominal) cultivation behaviours and recitation light. Among all the divergent instruction behaviours, there are many debates near whether spontaneous breeding has any influence on the construe wisdom process or not. Hence, this find start has been emphasised on the relationship in the midst of oral examination examination exam education and the development act of second stratum students in Shandong Normal University, China. The chassiss of participants who participated in dickens adaptation experience tests, before and after a 6-week oral development formula experiment had been measured and compared. Results had revealed a signifi erectt correlation between everyday oral interlingual rendition practice and reading experience movement in late-teen and early-twenty EFL /ESL university students. The practice of oral reading showed signifi nett influence on reading cognition capital punishment in the test. Most of classifys showed that oral reading practice had positive influence on the reading comprehension process. Feedback suggested that oral reading experiment was successful because it helps in improving the scores of the reading comprehension test. It is recommended that slope as foreign language or second language (EFL/ESL) teachers and students use oral reading as a practicing method acting and reading method during incline knowledge. And besides employ it as a reading method in reading comprehension outside examination. Beside the benefits of the oral reading method on reading comprehension writ of execution, a clear bottleneck was also observed in this method during the investigation. As a consequence, to improve reading comprehension performance in EFL/ESL information, more factors such(prenominal) as expression susceptibility, analysis ability of sentences and the reading of the background culture would need to be taken into consideration, apart from the oral reading practice.1. Introduction1.1 BackgroundReading methodologies take an important part in both first language and second/foreign language learning (Alshumaimeri, 2005 Grabe, 1991 capital of Mississippi Coltheart, 2001 McCallum, Sharp, Bell, George, 2004 preliminary Welling, 2001). In general, there are three reading methods used in language learning and dogma, oral reading, silent reading and subvocalization. Oral reading comm single refers to the act of reading out loud, either to iodineself or to audience. Silent reading, as stated in the phrase itself, it is the act of reading to aneself without pronouncing words out clamorously. Subvocalization, which is quasi(prenominal) to silent reading, however, is defined as the internal speech make when reading word, thus allowing the subscriber to imagine the sound of the word while readi ng (Carver, 1990). The landmark refers to the movement of muscles associated with speaking originally. But most subvocalization is undetectable even by the person using it (Carver, 1990 Rayner, et al, 1994).Reading comprehension refers to the ability of understanding of a compose text or message (Keith, et al, 2001). This understanding of the writing comes from the words themselves, and the knowledge outside the written text weed be triggered (Keith, et al, 2001). Reading comprehension performance is one of the essential criteria in language education (Bernhardt, 1991). in that respect are many different methodologies of teaching reading comprehension throughout the centuries (Adams, 1994 Keith, et al, 2001). Modern methodologies usually stressed on using model strategies to analyse or interpret the passages (Pressley, 2006). There is no definitive set of strategies, but general ones include summarizing what you hold read, monitoring your reading paragraphs, and analysing the s tructure of the text (Pressley, 2006). Some programmes teach students how to self monitor whether they are understanding and provide students with tools for fixing comprehension problems. These kinds of methods digest also been extremely used in face education in China, in order for students to tar startle high reading comprehension scores in the examination. This canvass was focused on the influence of reading behaviour on reading comprehension performance hence, these technical strategies and their effects on the reading comprehension performance of EFL/ESL students would not be discussed further in this dissertation.1.2 preliminary literatures and researches on Oral ReadingPrevious studies on the effects of reading methods on the comprehension performance had shown significant differences between the different reading methodologies. Oral reading had the best effect on comprehension performance among the three reading methods (Alshumaimeri, 2011). In Alshumaimeris research, a ll groups stated that oral reading was the most preferred reading method with the most of students reporting it was the best method to support reading comprehension. Feedback suggested that this method was preferred because it helps in memorizing words and texts, concentration, and practicing and pronouncing words for real world encounters (Alshumaimeri, 2011).For decades, investigators have stressed the importance of oral reading to children in first language teaching places in many cultures, not only as a method of encouraging children to read, but also of developing their reading comprehension ability (Alshumaimeri, 2005 Grabe, 1991 Jackson Coltheart, 2001 Juel Holmes, 1981 McCallum, Sharp, Bell, George, 2004 Prior Welling, 2001 Rowell, 1976, Yang, 2008).Oral reading has been considered as an essential approach in teaching orthoepy, vocabulary recognition and memorisation, during the early stages of foreign or second language (EFL/ESL) learning. There are many debated aroun d the topic for decades. With the fast-developing technologies involved in the teaching activities, traditional teaching and learning strategies like oral reading, had been considered as an out-dated methodology, and discouraged by some EFL/ESL teachers (Amer,1 997). Hill and Dobbyn pointed out in their research that oral reading could be a waste of severalise time in 1979 (Hill Dobbyn, 1979). This situation is specially is specially critical in Chinas education system, since the focus is primarily on improving the examination grades, rather than using a language practically. Another discernment for oral reading has been overlooked by many teachers is because of lacking scientific instructions consequently, students could not use oral reading as an efficient method to practice a foreign language after class in a non-native speaking environment (Yang, 2008). On impertinent, researches had demonstrated that oral reading with scientific techniques could be beneficial in proof-re ading, pronunciation practice, and fluency of conversations (Cho Choi, 2008 Gibson, 2008 Rennie, 2000 Reutzel, Hollingsworth, Eldredge, 1994 White, 1982). A survey conducted by BBC on the influences of oral reading on EFL/ESL at the EFL/ESL forum (Gao Xia, 2006), in which 98% of the 314 EFL teachers thought that oral reading had essential functions on slope learning (Gao Xia, 2006) The majority of EFL/ESL teachers suggested oral reading as an essential face learning method based on teaching experiences (Gao Xia, 2006 Yang, 2008)1.2.1 Oral reading in slope LearningIn China, or other countries where students learn position as a foreign language, the input of the target language is very low in daily life. The output of a language requires the understanding of large hail of the input first (Krashen, 2009). Oral reading is generally considered as an essential and effective way of the foreign language input. In China, the excogitation of learning English as a second language has m oved from understanding and using the language, to target high scores in various examinations in order to bring in high grades, or get into and graduate from universities. As a consequence, the most of English teachers in China, especially the ones in secondary schools, colleges and universities, focus the English teaching and learning on the grammar, writing skills and reading comprehension test skills. Few teachers are actually taken oral reading or reading aloud as a regular teaching strategy during classes or as a regular practicing method for students. The lack of oral reading practice in long term could result in a lack of the language input in a non-native speaking environment. Therefore, many students in China who have learnt English for many years have a good amount of vocabulary and well understanding of the grammar, and had passed many examinations including CET-4 and CET-6, still have troubles to use English fluently when needed. The lack of the language input during fo reign language learning would result in lack of the scenes of the target language. Therefore, as suggested by many pedagogs, oral reading is an effective, undertaked, and enhanced input route for language information. It could help EFL/ESL students to enrich their information pool of the target language and also provide the base of imitating and expressing the language for students language output. From imitating the reading material, the information in the texts would be converted into their natural and fluent expression and communication.Educators suggested that there are several reasons why oral reading takes an important part in English teaching and learning. Firstly, oral reading is a method to improve pronunciation and speaking ability. With the correct direction from English teachers, students could be benefit from oral reading practice for their pronunciation, voice tone. Additionally, during the oral reading behaviour, students eyes, mouths, and ears can all be involved. It can enhance the corresponding theater in the brain to process the sound. So effective reading aloud practice is also a good foundation for listening. Thirdly, oral reading can improve the sense of phrase during foreign language learning in a non-native speaking environment. The process can also help student to concentrate on the text and memorise vocabulary (Alshumaimeri, 2011). With all the advantages of oral reading practice above, as suggested by Halliday in his An introduction to Functional Grammar, reading texts aloud would help the reader to understand complicated heart and souls (Halliday, 1994). Moreover, it has also been suggested that oral reading to help foreign language learners to improve their written communication skills. By imitating the language during oral reading, students could overcome the effect of their first language on the writing skills.Correct guidance of oral reading is essential in English learning. Reading aloud without wise strategies would not ha ve any positive input in the learning process, which is a great waste of time and energy. As suggested by researchers, ESL/EFL teachers should pay attention to oral reading during the class to inspire students interests in oral reading. Teachers should also provide clear demonstration of the correct pronunciation and tone. And also explain the differences between the first language and foreign language. In addition, students are encouraged to practice oral reading regularly outside the class spontaneously. Furthermore, the reading materials should be well-selected. Articles, passages or books written by the native speakers of the target language with approximately 5% of rising vocabulary are suggested to be qualified reading materials.To sum up, oral reading is an essential methodology that can improve many skills in English learning, including pronunciation, vocabulary, intonation, voice tone, and the sense of the language. Many researchers and educator believe that oral reading can improve the reading comprehension performance. Therefore, this study would like to investigate the relationship between oral reading practice and the reading comprehension performance of Chinese university students, through a series of designed oral reading practicing experiment.1.3 Previous literatures and researches Reading ComprehensionThe research of reading comprehension has begun to increase rapidly in 1970s (Thorndike, 1973). It has then increasingly get under ones skin the main standard in language understanding. As mentioned above, reading comprehension is described as the level of understanding of a content or text. In this thesis, the word text is used to refer to the written materials, which have precise meanings in semantics, informative in pragmatics, coherent in logic and cohesive in linguistics it carries out the communication functions and conveys the interactive functions between the writer and the reader it depends on context, linguistic or non-linguistic, in which the textural meaning can be perceived by the reader.1.3.1 Reading Comprehension of text editionReading comprehension is generally a funda affable mean for people to get information. Readers integrate and traverse the text information on the basis of al parts of information. They complete their comprehension according to part and whole understanding of the text. Therefore, reading comprehension relies on the interaction of meaning between local and whole information.Text theory has become aboriginal to contemporary linguistic sciences. Text is considered as central to the construction of reality as entities are brought into existence, given meaning and significance. The purpose of reading is to put out the meaning underlying in texts, and to examine the normal of text and to link them to social backgrounds. Through the past few decades, the research on reading comprehension of text has been made more progress through the efforts of many text linguists (Gao, 2010).Readin g comprehension of the text requires perceiving auditive and visual inputs, process these inputs in their highly complex cognitive systems (Anderson and Pearson, 1984). Reading comprehension began with the studies on memory and representation. The current researches of reading comprehension involve in the study on the retrieval of central concepts, different dimensions of situational models and different processing of text information. English reading comprehension theories developed from the earliest Grammar-Translation theory to current situational model theory. Through the empirical researches and English reading teaching theories, the above two research fields tend to draw together. Both fields had developed from linguistic micro aspect to semantic macro aspect.In the field of psycholinguistics, reading comprehension of text refers to the capacity to construct new knowledge from the written text (Anderson and Pearson, 1984) and apply the acquired information to new situations (K instch, 1998). The Propositional possibility, the Schema Theory and the Mental Models are considered as the three most influential psycholinguistic theories of reading comprehension of text (Gunning, 1996).1.3.2 Brief Comparison between Reading Comprehension TheoriesThe three main reading comprehension theories identified by Gunning in 1996 will be described and compared briefly in this section.Propositional TheoryAccording to Gunning, the Propositional Theory engages the reader constructing a central idea as they process the text. These central ideas are organised in a hierarchical pattern with the most important factors given the highest priority to be memorised (Gunning, 1996).Schema TheorySchema, came from Greek which means shape or plan. The term has been introduced into education by bartlett in 1932 (Bartlett, 1932). According to Bartlett, a synopsis was defined as a complex knowledge structure which groups all the information an individual knows about or associates with a p articular concept. The term was linked with reconstructive memory by a series of experiments demonstrated in Bartletts work (Bartlett,1932). By presenting participants with information that was unfamiliar to their cultural backgrounds and expectations and then monitoring how they recalled these different items of information (stories, etc.), Bartlett was able to establish that individuals actual schemata and stereotypes influence not only how they interpret schema-foreign new information but also how they recall the information over time.(Wikipedia) The Schema Theory in had been studied and developed by many researcher ever since. In 1980, Rumelhart had taken an important breakthrough of the schema theory in reading comprehension, by portraying individuals understanding of tales and stories (Rumelhart, 1980). Later, the schema in text theory refers to content schema, where the the readers understanding of the text might depend on having a clearly established context for the text. G unning (1996) defines a schema as the organized knowledge that one already has about people, places, things, and events. Kitao (1990) says the schema theory involves an interaction between the readers own knowledge and the text, which results in comprehension. This schema, as Gunning defined, can be very broad, such a schema for natural disasters, or more narrow, such as a schema for a hurricane. Each schema is filed in an individual compartment and stored there. In attempting to comprehend reading materials, students can relate this new information to the existing information they have compart moralized in their minds, adding it to these files for future use. Based on the Schema Theory, depending on how extensive their files become, their degree of reading comprehension may vary. (website) For instance, the researches of reading comprehension sometimes term as formal schemata, which reveal previous experience of a certain text type. For instance, readers usually expect to see an ab stract, a background review, a methodology and analysis and discussion of data in a scientific paper. This kind of schema provides the expectation about the style of the text.Schema could also be used to represent the meaning representation built up by a reader during processing a particular piece of text. People begin to read texts with expectations about the content, which can be derived from the title or from the purpose of the texts. These enable people to develop a text-specific schema even before reading. More information might be added to the original schema, or the initial schema might be revised during the reading. (Sample Paper)Schema is different between languages. There are three possible changes of schemata. The change is involved when small adjustment is made temporarily in order to confront immediate needs. Accretion modifies a schema gradually but when new information is acquired or repeated examples of contrary evidence are accumulated, the schema may be changed. Re structuring occurs when a sudden insight or new piece of knowledge leads to radical reorganisation of existing knowledge structures. (Sample Paper)To sum up, the schema theory, as the mental representations of typical situations, are used in text processing to predict the contents of the particular situation which the text describes. The idea is that the mind which is stimulated by key words or phrases in the text, or by the context, activates a schema of knowledge, and uses this schema to understand the text.Mental Model Theory (Dominican.edu website)Another major theory we would like to discuss is the Mental Model. This model can be thought of as a mind movie created in ones head, based on the reading content. Gunning gives a detailed description of this process, stating that a mental model is constructed most often when a student is reading fiction. The reader focuses in on the main character and creates a mental model of the circumstances in which the character finds him or hers elf. The mental model is re-constructed or updated to reflect the new circumstances as the situation changes, but the items important to the main character are kept in the bring out according to Gunning, (1996).Perkins (1991) identifies that sometimes misconceptions about important concepts reflect misleading mental models of the topic itself or the subject matter within which it sits. There are, however, interventions the teacher can do to help the reader to stay on track and create a more accurate picture. One suggestion is for the teachers to ask the students to disclose their mental models of the topics in question, through analogy, discussion, picturing, and other ways. This information gives the teacher insight on the students knowledge gaps and misconceptions, therefore allowing them to help students reconstruct a more accurate picture.1.3.3 Reading Comprehension in Foreign Language take awayReading comprehension is one of the critical teaching objectives in all foreign lan guages education. The ability of reading comprehension is also an important factor to evaluate the learners language competence.Studies on first language learning showed that the comprehension performance is better when reading wordlessly (Bernhardt, 1983 Leinhardt, Zigmond, Cooley, 1981 Wilkinson Anderson, 1995). Nevertheless, recently study from Teng suggested that reading comprehension results had no significant difference between oran and silent reading (Teng, 2009). In EFL/ESL learning, Al-Qurashi et al had proposed that oral reading was only beneficial in acquisition for reading comprehension, silent reading is better strengthened (Al-Qurashi, Watson, Hafseth, Hickman, Pond, 1995). While researchers continue to explore the effectiveness of oral reading on both language acquisition and comprehension, many questions remain unanswered. Further research on the relationship between oral reading s and reading comprehension is needed in order to enhance EFL teaching methodologies and to improve learning outcomes. This research furthers understanding of the relationship between oral reading and comprehension performance at later stage of EFL/ESL learning. As such, findings would assist colleges or universities, the EFL/ESL researchers, educators and students.1.3.4 The Previous Research on the Correlation between Oral Reading and Reading ComprehensionOral reading and reading comprehension are different reading activities that are related and interact to each other. Research had been done on the two aspects from various perspectives, including psychological linguistics, neurological linguistics, cognition and the functions in foreign language education.Oral reading is a reading activity that expresses the emotions using reading skills, such as stress, rhythm or tone, in the linguistic materials. It involves reading out aloud the words, sentences or passages, with eye sight focusing on the texts. It is different from a mechanical word-to-word articulating proce ss. Oral reading is a more complex and cognitive process which engages not only pronouncing, reading, and listening, also language perception, comprehension and production of the reader. Previous research suggested that oral reading represented a complicated and dynamic performance that indicate the individuals sensorial skill at mechanically recognising orthographical representations, unitising those components into recognisable wholes and automatically accessing lexical representations, processing meaningful connections within and between sentences, relating text meaning to prior information, making inferences to supply missing information, and his production skill the formulation and carrying into action of speech plan, the performance on which characterises the readers overall language proficiency (Gao, 2006). The psychological process of oral reading had also been investigated. During the activity of oral reading, the reader could mull over the phonetic plan and convert it in to vocal sound after comprehending the text (Gao, 2007). Then the input of information could activate the lemma in the mental lexicon Yang, 2008.Text is a language phenomenon based on psychological activites and also a product of psychological process. Reading comprehension of the text involves how people recognise auditory and visual inputs, process and understand the input information in the highly complex cognitive systems. In the field of psycholinguistics, reading comprehension of the text refers to the capacity to construct new knowledge from the written text (Anderson and Pearson, 1984) and apply the acquired information to new situations (Kinstch, 1998).Furthermore, the performance of reading comprehension is an indicator of the foreign language students competence. If one has difficulty in the comprehension of reading, his or her execution of phonetic plan, mechanisms of articulation and monitor cannot work together simultaneously and effectively. His or her oral reading pe rformance could be stumbled and mistaken as well. Thus, the process of both oral reading and reading comprehension are relevant to cognition and psychology of human.1.4 Significance and Aims of the StudyThe main aim of this study is to analyse the relationship between oral reading and comprehension performance. Previous literatures suggested that the oral reading method is correlated to the comprehension performance during language studies among young children and teenagers (Alshumaimeri, 2005 Rowell, E.H. (1976).). Alshumaimeri s research on the effects of different reading methods on the comprehension performance in 10th grade Saudi male students indicated that, reading comprehension performance could be benefited from oral reading method because it could help students to concentrate on the passages and memorise new vocabulary (Alshumaimeri, 2011). The research from Alshumaimeri was conducted among teenagers. Additionally, the experiment was designed to investigate the reading com prehension performance after oral reading the passages (Alshumaimeri, 2011), i.e. the immediate effect of oral reading on comprehension performance. However, the experiment was designed differently in this study to investigate the long-term effect of oral reading on reading comprehension performance.Therefore, this study has been carried out among second year students in Shandong Normal University in China, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. This study has aimed to investigate the influence of oral reading practice on reading comprehension performance, in ESL/EFL students with relatively long English learning history and who already have relatively higher ability in English. Because with the development of English teaching and learning strategies, and the ability of self-learning and gaining resources by students, oral reading is more neglected with the age increasing as well, especially for college and university students, who despise oral reading as a leaning method because it is time consuming, childish and shows no immediate improvements in examination grades. Therefore, the ability of reading comprehension would be measured by two designed multiple-choice tests, before and after a 6-week oral reading practice experiment. The scores from both tests would be analysed to investigate the relationship between oral reading practice and the reading comprehension performance.Besides the quantitative data comparison from the reading comprehension tests, the opinions from both students and English teachers participated in this research on oral reading and reading comprehension would be collected by questionnaires. This aimed to investigate the attitude of oral reading and reading comprehension from both learners and teachers point of views during EFL/ESL education. These results would be valuable for future English as a foreign language education.Theoretical geographic expedition and quantitative analysis would be illustrated in the thesis experiment al data would be processed with SPSS to support the theory as well.2. MethodologyThe study in general focused on discovering whether the students performance of oral reading would have any positive influence on students reading comprehension performance. Additionally, the work of EFL/ESL teacher in China put in teaching correct oral reading techniques to improve their ability in reading comprehension performance. In order to get reliability and validity data and results, both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used in this research. In the foreign language education field, quantitative research is objective, noticeable, and outcome-oriented, which can be generalised. On contrary, qualitative research is more subjective, contextual and process-oriented, during which the process is based on systematic methods. In this section, the key questions involved in this study would be discussed, followed by research subjects (university teachers and students), research procedures (e xperimental design, implement process and data collection), and measurements (pre-test, post-test, questionnaires and teaching experiments).2.1 Research QuestionsThe study was designed to investigate the influence of oral reading practice on reading comprehension performance, and the relationship between the two. The key questions in this study are as followsHow to use oral reading as an effective teaching method in English classes regularly?How often do students use oral reading as an exercise technique in their self-study time?What is the relationship between oral reading and reading comprehension performance?Would the oral reading experiment have positive influence on the reading habit of students?The research of these questions would be illustrated in the Results section, and the answers to these key questions would be discussed further in the Discussion section.2.2 Research SubjectsThe experiment around the topic was carried out in second year student in Shangdong Normal Univer sity, China. A full-time university could be used to represent the majority of universities in China. A group of 120 non-English department students were chosen as the research subject in this study. They could represent most of the English learning students in China. As second year university students, they usually have a good understanding in English by passing the National Entrance Examination of China, and had leant English for approximately 9 years since the fourth grade in primary schools. The average age of the chosen students was around 19 to 21 and participants were selected from both sexual urges. More importantly, they have resembling education background and English level in the reading comprehension. The non-English-specialised College English Test Band 4 (CET-4), which is a national English as a Foreign Language test in China, could be used as a standard to measure the ability of the participants in the reading comprehension study. The purpose of the CET is to examin e the English proficiency of undergraduate students in China and ensure that Chinese undergraduates reach the required English levels specified in the National College English Teaching Syllabuses (NCETS). The level of CET-4 could be considered as around 5.5 to 6 in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).The 120 participants were selected from 300 non-English-specialised students from different departments who join the research on their own will. Their scores were fall between 25% and 40% in the pre-experimental reading comprehension test (details in the abutting section). This score range represents a group of students who have certain understanding in English but with lower level in the reading comprehension. As a consequence, there is a big gap to see the improvements in this study. After the selection, there were 79 female students and 41 male students were chosen for the next step experiment. The reason for the difference in genders was due to that the femal e student proportion was naturally higher in this University. However, since the purpose of this study was not focus on the effect of oral reading on reading comprehension performance between genders, this big difference could be accepted in this research. The gender proportion information is illustrated in Tabe.1 below.GenderNumberPercent

Acronyms, Idioms And Slang: The Evolution Of The English Language. :: essays research papers

Acronyms, Idioms and Slang the Evolution of the English Language.     Although the English language is only 1500 years old, it has evolved atan incredible swan so much so, that, at first glance, the average person inAmerica today would find most Shakespearean literature confusing without the encourageof an Old-English dictionary or Cliffs Notes. Yet Shakespear lived just 300years ago Some are seeing this is a sign of the decline of the Englishlanguage, that plenty are becoming less and less literate. As R. Walker writesin his essay "Why English Needs Protecting," "the moral and economic decline of prominent Britain in the post-war era has been mirrored by a decline in the Englishlanguage and literature." I, however, disagree. It seems to me that the point oflanguage is to communicate to express some liking or exchange some form ofinformation with someone else. In this sense, the English language seems, notnecessarily to be improving or decayi ng, just optimizing becoming moreefficient.     It has been both said and observed that the technical evolution of asociety tends to grow exponentially rather than linearly. The same can as well besaid of the English language. English is evolving on two levels culturally andtechnologically. And both of these are unavoidable. Perhaps the more noticeableof the two today is the technological evolution of English. When the currentscope of a given language is insufficient to describe a new concept, invention,or property, then there functions a compulsion to alter, combine, or create wordsto provide a needed definition. For example, the field of Astro-Physics hasprovided the English language with such new terms as pulsar, quasar, quark,black hole, photon, neutrino, positron etc. Similarly, our society has recentlybe inundated with a myriad of new terms from the field of Computer Sciencemotherboard, hard drive, Internet, megabyte, CD, IDE, SCSI, TCP/IP, WWW, HTTP,DM A, graphical user interface and literally hundreds of others acronyms this particular field isnotorious for. While some of these terms, such as black hole and hard drive,are just a conclave of pre-existing words, numerous of them are new wordsaltogether. To me it seems clear that anything that serves to increase theacademic vocabulary of a society should be welcomed, although not all wouldagree. For example, many have acc utilise this trend of creating an acronym foreverything to be impersonal and confusing. And, while I agree that there isreally no need to abbreviate Kentucky Fried Chicken, it does become tiring tohave to constantly say Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or Transfer ControlProtocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) when they are both used so frequently when

Toothbrushes and Tofu :: Short Story Papers

Toothbrushes and Tofu Yay hyperchocolate hazelnut cake Yay apricot baklava Yay carrot cake and apple crisp Yay rose periwinkle dining room trim Yay co-ops - Watermyn ho workout journal, 1986 The co-op is on the corner of Waterman and Governor streets, hunkered there like an old man, into a dilapidated permanence. 2 enormous cherry trees occupy the front yard in the fall their golden leaves are left in peace to coat the lawn until they rot or blow away. A tangled cluster of bicycles clings to a metal sculpture that is perched like an insect under the largest tree. The front garden sprouts renegade tomato plants and genus Echinacea flowers, long taken over with weeds, and a tin sign hangs feebly from a piece of yellow pipe, its faded letters announcing, Watermyn Co-op Garden. The newly construct front porch smells of wet, cut wood and supports a ratty looking couch, a small mosaiced table, and half a dozen un-opened Wall Street Journals. The Watermyn kitchen never fails to be a s timulating experience. This Sunday night is no exception. Ian and Allison chop vegetables, and the counters swim in piles of mushrooms, carrots, spinach, bowls of crumbled tofu and pans spread with thick pizza dough. Liz Phair plays on the stereo, just loud enough to inhibit a normal decibel of conversation. Old crumpled newspapers litter the two couches beneath the stereo, and rows of red-capped spices, cereal boxes and other affiliate dried goods line the racks above the counters. Clippings, sketches and posters plaster the refrigerator and walls. Broken kitchen appliances are stuck above the fridge with black electrical tape and some unity has scrawled above them in black marker, Kitchen appliance graveyard - where all good preparedness tools come to die. Ian is tall, with a warm smile and a worn-in look, faded and comfortable like someones preferred sneakers. He groans as he opens up rotting bags of spinach, How long has this been in the fridge? Im not going to use this. Do y ou think I should use this? No, no one will want to eat this. Allison doesnt offer any suggestions. She smiles unconcernedly and slides an assembled pizza into the oven, holding her long brown hair back with one hand. Dinner is served at 630 and in a few minutes co-opers will begin to wander into the kitchen and common rooms, lured by the smell of cooking dough and stir-fried garlic.